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Driven to pursue the glory of being the best Indonesian duelist in 2012, 126 duelists prepare their decks, mind, and skill, and attended the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG Grand Tournament, one of the pathways to the prestigious Yu-Gi-Oh! Indonesian Nationals Championship of 2012.

The Grand Tournament, which was held by Comics N Games, Jakarta, Indonesia, on 14th January 2012 attracted many people not just because the monetary value the prizes were worth of, but also because the prizes include three Wild Cards — a ticket to instantly get in the Top 72 of the upcoming Indonesian Nationals in March.

One night before…

Something happened while I was preparing my deck. At first, I intended to bring a certain deck for the GT, but I didn’t have some of the key cards really needed there. For that, I ordered the cards from internet a week earlier, but sadly, the shipment hadn’t come until the day 😦

That forced me to switch to another deck. Just a night before the day, I gathered my cards and built a new deck from a scratch (in such a short time). What’s worse, the cards for this new deck went missing! I looked all over the place, but to no avail. After more than an hour of searching, I decided I’ll just use the extra copies that I actually kept for sale.

And so, the deck’s done. A deck that I admit, is quite out of place for such big tournaments, since it’s a totally under-tier deck. However, the deck is highly fun, although at times “Awesome Yet Impractical.” Know what I brought?

Anyhow, the day came. We were told to meet up at Comics N Games first, before going to the real hall where the duels would take place, at roughly 8-9 AM.

Taman Anggrek Mall 3F when I and my sister arrived. Still early, still dark.

Feels like Tartarus from Persona 3, isn't it? :v

Early birds flocking in front of CNG since it wasn't open yet.

Toys and Cards, a shop next to CNG which sells a lot of anime figures. Look even more seducing in the dark!

Not too long after we arrived, the CNG staffs arrived and opened the store. I and my friends went in and discussed many things, from decks to light chatters. Some duelists which registered on-the-day paid fees to the staff and wrote their decklists in the decklist form.

Around half an hour later, those who had finished registrations were told to go to 7F, to the duel hall.

At the narrow corridor in front of the lifts.

And so, we arrived.

Deck-checking by the judges. Btw, that judge with the white shirt is a doctor, you know? Card Games are serious business XD

The GT was divided into two categories: Beginner and Advanced. Advanced tournament is free for everyone to enter, but you can’t enter Beginner if you’re not a beginner anymore 😛 (decided by qualitative judgment of the committee)

After the decks went through deck checks and all the attendants have come, the committee read aloud the rules for the GT and the duels begin! (5 Swiss Round, Top 8 Playoff)

The Wheel of Fate is Turning... Rebel One, Action!

For myself, here is my report:

Round 1: vs Albert (Agent)(0-2)
G1: His hand was perfect; there were Earth, Honest, even Heralds. Couldn’t keep up with his plus’s. Lose.G2: Took quite some damage early, but managed to get massive advantages via Creature Swap. Destroyed many things, like Gachi-Gachi, Earths, and screwed his Graveyard so he couldn’t summon Kristya, but I’m stuck with weak monsters on the field, ALL TUNERS in hand and couldn’t summon more because he had Torrential (known through Duality) and my Life Points are too low to leave an empty field. Later on, he topdecked Hyperion, which I forgot how but I could handle it with ease. However, he god-topdecked another Hyperion next turn, which made me lose.

Round 2: vs Echwan (Synchrocentric) (0-2)
G1: My hand wasn’t bad, but far from awesome either. After a turn or two of setup, want to make big plays using Junk Synchron and Doppelwarrior, but halted by Maxx “C.” Knowing that my cards wouldn’t be able to handle his next turn if I leave the Junk as-is, I pushed for Synchros, but halted again by Tragoedia, and lost because his hand was at ELEVEN!!11 :vG2: Didn’t remember much, pretty much got owned by meta cards because they’re like a boss :v

Round 3: vs William Ali (Dino-Rabbit) (1-2)
G1: Rabbit into Laggia and next turn Tour Guide into Leviair; I scooped so he didn’t know what deck I was using. (He only saw Winda and staples)G2: Couldn’t remember much, I Creature Swapped a lot for massive advantage, and his Dinos fell into Dark Trap Hole. Won.G3: He opened with great hand, a Fossil Dyna while my hand contained things like Striker and floaters, then he summoned Grand Mole next turn, it was problem. Later I summoned Junk Synchron to run over Fossil Dyna, then forgot how but managed to kill Mole too. From then, I had advantage, despite the Dimensional Fissure blocking my floaters. However, late-game, the table was turned when he Tour Guides into Leviair. Managed to stall, fight back, and really late-game, I summoned Lava Golem while I already had Rai-Oh on field, when his LP was 1050 and mine would be left with 1600 even if Lava Golem trampled Raioh. He had two cards in hand, which I hoped contains no monster, but alas, he played Monster Reborn for game.

Round 4: vs Dylan (Lightsworn) (2-1)G1: No means to boast nor underestimate, but he clearly was a newbie. There is a difference between underestimating people and saying a truth. Nothing special happened, Win.G2: Okay, although he was a newbie, but when he swarmed with Judgment Dragon, BLS, and Synchro within a turn while I had no Warning, how could he lose? :vG3: Creature Swapped a lot for massive advantage. Halted his Synchro attempts with Bottomless, leaving him with an empty field, then flipped my got-from-Swapped Ryko for even more advantage, won easily.

Round 5: vs Elvin (Tengu-Plant-Synchro) (1-2)G1: He seized advantage early, didn’t remember much about this game, lost.G2: My big play went successful, Junk Synchron > Egul > Doppel —> TGHL + Formula and some other monster for the win.G3: This is one of the most memorable and intensely fun duel of the day. Mid-game, I got raped by Maxx “C”, Stardust, Black Rose, and Gorz on his field while he had over +4 advantage on me. However, with the teamwork of the Gustos, I could stall for OVER 9000 SIX turns; and even turned the table. Although in the end I still lost, but the last turn’s condition turned into his advantage only +2, and his field EMPTY, front and backrow. Sounds cool, huh

Round 6: vs Theta (Dragunity)
This round was the most exciting and fun round.G1: Around mid to late game, he got RDA and Stardust on the field while I’m having Gulldo to defend myself (his effect still activates even when destroyed by RDA’s effect). Then he summoned Dux; I thought he wanted to summon Brionac for game, but something more epic happened. He tuned Phalanx with RDA intoTrident Dragion, attacks Gulldo, chained Warning to Gulldo, and attack again twice, GG.G2: The first few turns I stalled his Stardust with my floaters. Then he got RDA out while I had two floaters, which both were blasted by RDA; but thankfully, one of them was Gulldo, so I got another floater to fend off Stardust. In my turn, I summoned Junk Synchron and Doppel into something that killed Stardust in battle (forgot what), then Creature Swapped by Token with RDA, ended with RDA blowing my other Attack-Position Token and thus protecting my LP 😀 from then on, all advantages were on me, Win.G3: This duel was also very cool. He got early advantage with Ravine and Dux. Then I summoned a floater, use Creature Swap. Got Dark Bribed. And topdecked another Swap. This was his reaction. I controlled advantage for around two turns, before he started to fight back and emptied my field. But I quickly regained advantage with Contact (did I? Forgot if I had Contact or not), Dark Hole, and Caam Forgot how, but in the late-game, we both had an empty field, I had two cards in hand, and he has No cards in hand. I thought this game would be for me, but he god-topdecked Dux for the win. orz

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Aftermath: of course, even an elementary schooler would know that I won’t go to the playoffs. But nevertheless, I was satisfied. Very satisfied. The deck was a lot more fun than I had expected. I rarely had such an awesome and fun tournament like this before. (Extra: I’ve received advices from several comrades, I’ll fix my deck to be able to handle meta decks more. Watch out, it will be better next time!)

And so, the tournament throttles into the Top 8 Playoff, without any dinner break! The tables for Top 8 went like this:

Just click to enlarge.

I couldn’t keep an eye for four tables at the same time, and I happened to only watch Anthon vs Cedric because an acquaintance of mine invited me for dinner.

And by the end of the day, Michael Sundoro won the Advanced Grand Tournament with his army of Dark World! Congratulations!

Quite some time later, we also had victors emerging from the Beginner Tournament, congratulations to Kenneth Lukas for the victory!

With this, we had four Wild Cards given on the day, each for the Champions and Runner-Ups of both section. They are Michael Sundoro, Jonas Xavier, Kenny, and Kevin Richard.

Last but not least, a useful information about The Current Holders of Wild Cards!

Ahf Aprilian (Banjarmasin)

Joshua Gunawan (Jkt)

Aan Darmawan (Jogja)

Nawa (Solo)

Lukman (Semarang)

Muhammad Ridhan (Bdg)

Michael Sundoro (Jkt)

Jonas Xavier (Jkt)

Kenneth Lukas Parulian (Jkt)

Kevin Richard (Jkt)

And Top 4 of last year’s Indonesia Nationals also received a Wild Card:

Kevin Tjhin (Jkt)

Kevin Wijaya (myself; Jkt)

Freddy Masito Sitorus (Jogja-Jkt)

Denny Susanto (Solo)

That’s it for now, stay tuned to the informations on Nats 2012, and of course, to this blog! 😀